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SANTA ANA – The City Council on Dec. 3 is expected to take up a revision of the city's alcohol and entertainment rules after the Planning Commission endorsed the measure at its Nov. 26 meeting. .

At least 17 residents, business owners and representatives of community groups asked the commission to put off a vote because the lengthy, detailed measure had been released less than a week before, and just two days before Thanksgiving. They expressed concerns ranging from the effect of alcohol sales on the community to the ordinance's effect on local businesses.

The 36-page revision is intended to streamline the process for obtaining conditional-use permits for alcohol sales, to create standards for the sale of alcohol for off-premise and on-premise consumption, and to give the police chief the authority to grant entertainment permits, which staff said would save businesses several thousand dollars over the current process. Santa Ana has 374 alcohol licenses of various types.

Most of the speakers asked the commission to postpone action until Jan. 21 so that they could review the ordinance – while some suggested the commission wait until at least March. They ranged from members of the Santa Ana Collaborative for Responsible Development, who had pushed for the recently adopted "sunshine ordinance" to encourage transparency and citizen participation at City Hall, to owners of dining and entertainment venues such as Chapter One, the Yost Theater and the Observatory.

"It has a lot of urban-planning jargon," one speaker told the commission.

On a 4-2 vote, the commission decided against postponing a vote to January. Voting for the postponement were Eric Alderete, the chairman, and Patrick Yrarrazaval.

Also on a 4-2 vote, the commission voted to recommend the ordinance to the council. Voting yes were Alexander Nalle, James Gartner, Frank Acosta and Sean H. Mill. Alderete and Yrarrazaval said they wanted to give the community more time to study the measure, while the majority contended that, after studying the issue for more than a year, they were prepared to vote.

Phil Bacerra, a consultant for Downtown Inc., said he was concerned that the entertainment-permit process, if administered by police, would lack the transparency of public hearings for conditional-use permits. The proposed measure would also give the city the authority to charge for increases in police calls, and he said the costs should be stated up front.

Mayra Mejia, of Latino Health Access, said she was concerned that the provision would discourage calls to police, and that the organization wasn't sure how the entertainment-permit process would work.

"Community participation is important," Mejia told the commission. "Community members are experts in their neighborhoods, they know the ins and outs, and they could provide a lot of really good suggestions to this draft code language."

Dennis Lluy, an owner of the Yost Theater, said that before it reopened last year as a music venue, the theater spent years in the permit process. With concerns similar to those raised by the Observatory, he said that most of the talent that performs there wouldn't come if the venue prohibited patrons younger than 21 after 10 p.m. Under terms of the entertainment provisions, establishments that serve alcohol and have amplified music and dancing would need to restrict patrons to 21 and older after 10 p.m.

"If it is the intent of the city to shut us down, this proposed ordinance would do that," he said.

City Planning Manager Karen Haluza told the commission, in response to a question by Commissioner Mill, that the measure wouldn't affect concert halls' ability to allow 18-year-olds after 10 p.m. – just their ability to serve alcohol.

In deciding to forward the ordinance, commissioners noted that it follows a series of more than a half-dozen public sessions held over the past year. Mill noted that the current commission members are familiar with the ordinance, while if the vote were postponed to January, new planning commissioners would be unfamiliar with it.

"It's a really well-put-together ordinance that, as several people mentioned, makes it easier for businesses here," said Nalle.

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